Accountability alarms: educators need to pay attention to some alarms that might be sounding in their schools and districts as they seek accountability through assessment.

It would be hard to find an educator who didn't believe that public schools should be held accountable to the taxpayers for their work. Furthermore, there is wide agreement that assessment goes hand-in-hand with accountability, and is therefore necessary. Disagreements tend to center on the political decisions connected with what to assess and what the levels of accountability should be.

Even as we acknowledge these disagreements, being practical folks we know that accountability and assessment are realities and are here to stay.

However much we may endorse and embrace these concepts, teachers and particularly administrators need to pay attention to some alarms that might be sounding in their schools and districts as they seek accountability through assessment. These signals of possible danger, if heeded, can reduce the potentially harmful impact that some well-meaning practices might create.

The alarms are associated with three extremely important areas of schooling; namely, the quality of instruction taking place in the classroom, the professional development required of teachers and provided by schools and districts, and the ethical standards expected of students and teachers.

Vigilant administrators who are sincerely seeking effective assessment methods to be more accountable should take note of the following.

Alarm 1--Quality of instruction

As a principal or curriculum supervisor are you noticing that most of the instruction you are observing looks identical? Is direct instruction the most prevalent methodology being used in classrooms? Do students seem to be primarily engaged in rote kinds of learning that can easily be measured by selected-response kinds of tests? Does it appear that instruction seems pointed toward the content that can be easily measured by standardized tests?

If you can answer yes to more than one of these questions, an alarm should alert you to probe more deeply into the quality of instruction practiced in your school. Often teachers are discouraged from preparing higher quality lessons because they require performance assessments to determine student learning, and those assessments are not part of the state's accountability system. Consequently, they worry that students' test scores will not show the kind of growth the school district expects.

Linda Darling-Hammond's research suggests that broader assessments actually raise standards and achievement. "The ability to make effective oral arguments and conduct significant research projects are considered essential skills by both employers and post-secondary educators ... these skills are very difficult to measure on a paper-and-pencil test" (Darling-Hammond, 2005). The issue is obviously the amount of instruction that seems one-sided. Balance of instructional strategies seems to be necessary for the quality of instruction to be high.

Alarm 2--Professional development

When you visit or participate in professional development activities designed for your teachers, do you observe that the activity stresses content over process? Does the training focus on teaching and learning for all students? Is the experience that has been designed for the faculty relevant and research-based?

A recent report sponsored by the Spencer Foundation revealed that professional development activities that focused on accountability systems appeared to help teachers focus more on standards, but often resulted in misunderstood test data and rankings. Even more alarming were the "few organizational mechanisms that linked usable student performance data to teacher learning opportunities" (Berry, Turchi, Johnson, Hare, Owens, 2003).

The report assumed that for an accountability system to be effective it must include a professional development program that specified why some schools were successful and what educators should do to improve student learning. Are you able to discern that this type of experience has been planned as an essential part of the staff development program you are observing?

Alarm 3--Ethical behavior

As an administrator are you noticing signs of undue pressure on students? Are you witnessing a proliferation of tutorial sessions on Saturdays and summer breaks? Are larger numbers of parents complaining that their younger children are unhappy at school? Affirmative responses should sound another alarm.

The Education Commission of the States has reported an increasing number of children suffering from sleep disorders and other stress-related maladies as a result of high-stakes testing systems connected with rigorous accountability efforts (Dounay, 2000). There is concern that increased cheating is the inevitable result of this pressure.

Are you also noticing dramatic increases in test scores in certain teachers' classrooms? Have you heard some of your teachers make innuendos about some of their colleagues' testing practices? Have some parents expressed concerns that their children's standardized tests scores reflect much higher achievement levels than their daily work? More alarms should go off. A Harvard Crimson report concluded that "teachers and school officials cheat in administering standardized tests in a minimum of 4 to 5 percent of elementary school classrooms" (Krubner, 2003).

Is cheating an inevitable result of an accountability system that ties jobs, bonuses and promotions to test scores? The answer is probably not. However, a sharp eye and attuned ear can help a caring administrator keep the learning environment free from the damage that suspicion and envy can create.

An alarm does not necessarily mean something is wrong; it is an alert that something could be wrong. In an era where educators are struggling to remain credible with the public, strong assessment techniques are crucial to produce accountability systems that work.

It is imperative that in seeking to create such systems we do not lose some vital ingredients to good education; namely, a quality instructional program, an effective professional development program and high ethical standards. Paying attention to assessment and accountability alarms can help strong administrators provide the best educational system possible.

References

Barnett Berry et al. (November 2003). "The Impact of High-Stakes Accountability on Teachers' Professional Development: Evidence from the South." A Final Report to the Spencer Foundation. Southeast Center for Teaching Quality, Inc.

Linda Darling-Hammond. "Multiple Measures Approaches to High School Graduation: A Review of State Student Assessment Policies." (www. Schoolredesign.net/srn/mm/mna/ php)

Jennifer Dounay, "High-Stakes Testing Systems." (www.ecs.org/clearing-house/14/56/1456.htm)

Lawrence Krubner, "Does High Stakes Testing Make Teachers Cheat?" (www.Kimberlyswygert.com/archives/001615.html)

Robert J. Ferrera is associate professor of education and director of the Multiple Subject Credential Program at Notre Dame deNamur University. He has served as the superintendent of schools in California, Michigan and Minnesota.